Twice the fun!

About two weeks ago a new engagement ring came to live at my apartment.

No, I didn't change my mind about my ring. I still love it. Ab. so. lute. ly.

The new ring belongs to my roommate and bridesmaid, Kristen!

Aren't they cute?

And don't you love our vertical blinds? So vintage. Ha.

Anyway...Kristen's engagement gave me the chance to bust out my camera and make use of my macro setting again...here's her pretty sparkler.

Jeff and I bought them some champagne to celebrate...check it out:

"Il Vino dell Amore" (The wine of love)

Apropos, no?

Anyway, I'm excited about engagements and weddings all over again. Nothing like the engagement of a best friend to make you enjoy wedding planning again! Now we get to start all over with choosing vendors and whatnot!

Ahh! Rings! Exciting!

To make things even more fun...Kristen and Dan are less traditional-formal and way more fun-colorful-eccentric than Jeff and I. Which means that one of those other weddings in my head (you know...the one I would have if I were a teensy bit braver and a teensy bit less stuck on traditions) might get to show its face a little bit in June 2010. Yay!

Kristen and Dan's proposal re-enactment.

(They're standing "a respectable distance" apart.)

See? Told you these two were fun.

I'm so excited to help Kristen plan her wedding...especially since she has the 12+months engagement that I always wished for!!

Things are always better with buddies. Especially best friend buddies.

Spring Has Sprung!

I'm pretty sure Spring is my favorite season. I used to say it was Summer, but after such a cold and drawn out winter, I'm really appreciating Spring this year.

This morning when I walked outside, the sun was shining and I thought to myself Hmm...I bet this is what the Garden of Eden was like...

This proves one of two things. Either I was having a nice little touched-by-God's-grace moment, or I've been a little too dedicated to my English 414 class, in which we read Paradise Lost a lot. I'm afraid it's probably the latter.

Anyway, spring has sprung in College Station, and I couldn't help taking some photos of all the spring things that made me smile today. Look at these pretty spring sights:

Ahh Texas A&M...you're so pretty when your fountains are actually working.

Green trees! So pretty!

Hello marigolds. You make me smile.

Pretty pansies.

Bluebonnets right next to my apartment!

Yeah. Spring is pretty. In my other wedding (you know, the pretend one in my head that uses all of the ideas I can't fit into the real one), everything is pretty and springtimeish and we get married in April. Kind of like these pictures:

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Sigh. Beautiful. Someone else have a spring wedding and show me your pictures, mmkay? I'd love to live vicariously through you. Oh and Jeff, if you're reading this, you should buy me a giant bouquet of tulips like that picture up there. In return, I promise to love you forever and ever and bake you cinnamon roll cheesecake. Deal?

Anybody else have an "other wedding" in your head? What's your dream wedding season?

Nostalgia Sets In...

There's this weird thing about life. The thing is...it always keeps moving and changing. Here I am, on April 13th, 2010. I'm a college student. I live in College Station, in an apartment that we've made a home. When I sent in my taxes a few days ago it was just me on the form.

But in May I become a college graduate. And I move to Houston.
And in July I become a married woman, I start writing "Mrs" in front of my name, and my last name becomes significantly easier to spell.
And next time I file taxes it'll be with Jeff on the same set of forms.

Yep. Change.

Yesterday I was driving home from campus and I was being all emotional and all of the sudden I just started to appreciate (and therefore take pictures of) all the things that I overlook everyday. You know, the things that have been my life for the last few years. This post isn't wedding-related, but it's about those things. The things I'll miss when I move on to the next stage of my life...the little things that make my life as wonderful as it is now. These things:

Hello St. Mary's. Thanks for being a place that truly feels like home to me. You've watched me make lifelong friends, grow in leadership, and most importantly - grow in faith. It's going to take me quite some time to love another church like I love you.

Hello water tower. Every time I drive past you, you say to me "Welcome to Aggieland" and I just feel at home.  How is it that a water tower can be friendly? This one just is.

Hello bell tower. I remember hearing you chime back when I lived in the dorms. I remember hearing you chime at Silver Taps. I love that your Roman numeral for 4 is "IIII" and not "IV." Thanks for being a pretty part of my drive home each day.

Hello Kyle Field. Thanks for the Yell Practices and the football games. I love the fact that your clock has been 4-5 minutes behind real-life time for the past few years, and no one's bothered to fix it. Thanks for making me feel like I'm on time even when I'm running late.

Hello hole beneath the fence. When I come home after dark I catch little bunnies running in and out of you, and they make my day. Thanks for being one of the few positive things about having an apartment in the very back of the complex.

Hello fancy new A/C unit. Sometimes I hear you humming outside of my window when I'm falling asleep. I had to go through weeks of awful maintenance guys and dealing with the awful old A/C unit (during the summer!) before I finally got you. You represent a time when I learned to really take care of myself and my home. You taught me to appreciate things that I take for granted, you know...things like cool air.

Hello doormat. Thanks for welcoming us all home every day. You're all faded and dirty now, but I think it just proves how much living, laughing, and loving we've done since we bought you. I can't take you with me when I move because my new apartment has inside hallways, but I promise I'll try my best to find you a happy home.

Sigh. Change. So many wonderful things are happening in the next year of my life, but a teensy tiny part of me is just a little sad to leave these ones behind. I'll miss you, little brighteners of my days.

Eeee! Look How Pretty!!!

So I already wrote one post today. But then something wonderful happened! And so now I'm posting again.

At approximately 3:41pm I received a phone call from my lovely fiance Jeff informing me that today he was going to pick up my wedding band after work!!!!! At approximately 5:27pm I called him to confirm that the ring was in his possession (it was). At approximately 7:40pm I called and begged for pictures (which he oh-so-wonderfully took with his phone and emailed to me even though he was at the driving range). And now, at approximately 7:50pm I am writing this post because I just have to share the prettiness with you all.

Remember, here's my e-ring:

I'll let the wedding band pictures speak for themselves.

Swoon. I cannot wait to get that pretty thing on my left hand where it belongs. Going from thinking I just wouldn't get a wedding band, to having this pretty piece of white gold and diamonds just makes me all happy on the inside. I mean, I know the wedding isn't about the rings, but gosh they're so darn pretty!

I'm officially all for the custom-design route when it comes to wedding jewelry. What do you think?

Introducing...the Flower Girls!

So I have about a bajillion cousins. Big family for sure. Once upon a time I graduated from high school and the ENTIRE family came and I made Jeff a giant photo family tree and he put it in his office on the wall and memorized it before they came. That's why I'm marrying him. Because he memorizes giant family trees without me even telling him to.

Anyway...somewhere in those bajillions of cousins, I happen to have two very cute little girl cousins.

This one's Sydney. We made those Christmas trees last December.

And this one's Sara. She's a smiler. :o)

(Baby Sophia is too little to be a flower girl...)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a bride in possession of adorable little cousins must be in want of them being flower girls in her wedding (anybody catch the Pride & Prejudice reference? No? Okay, just me then). Anyway, I called their dad. I asked him if they could be flower girls (you know, since you have to ask the parents first and all...). He said yes.

So while I was in McKinney this weekend for my bridal shower (which I will tell you about as soon as I get some pictures!!), I made a trip to see Sydney and Sara. I told them what a flower girl is, and then I asked them if they would want to do it, and they said yes (of course. What little girl doesn't want to wear a pretty dress and carry flowers?). I brought a little present for them...

"Ooh! It's a book!"

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It was this cute little book!

Sara was awfully confused about what a flower girl does. Don't worry though, she'll figure it out!

Sara even more confused. Haha.

So now we have flower girls! And they're the cutest flower girls ever. I'm not biased at all. ;o)

We're gonna put a dragon on a cake.

Yep. We sure are. Not like this...

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But like this:

It looks like a dragon, right? A dragon that matches the wedding colors. Haha.

So this weird-looking feathery monster is going to be displayed at our wedding. Why? Because he's actually part of this logo:

University of South Carolina Gamecocks. Yep. It's actually a fighting rooster.

The little dragon gamecock is going to be right in the middle of Jeff's groom's cake (where it says "seal"), which will look like this:

Please excuse my less-than-perfect drawing skills.

It's going to be a yummy flavor called "Chocolate Truffle," and it'll be decorated with little tuxedo strawberries!

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Aren't they the cutest things ever?!?

I'm actually a little more excited about Jeff's cake than I am about the big white one. I looove chocolate, and you better believe I'll be heading straight for this cake after I eat my ogligatory bite of the big one! Despite the giant dragon-gamecock, I am really happy with the plans for this cake!

"Cake is Important, Okay?"

This is a post about cake.

I know, I know...I already wrote about our cake. But cake is important, okay? Important enough to write about a million thousand times.

This time, I'm writing about the outsides of the cakes...you know, the pretty part.

Once upon a time I found this cake photo, and I said to myself I want that.

from StyleMePretty

But then I started being obsessed with everything being cream/ivory/champagne, and I became very anti-white, and I decided that cake just wouldn't be as cool if it wasnt white-white.

So next I found these three pictures:

I can't remember where I found this picture...but I loved all the icing swirly scrolls!

Swirly scrolls in cream...even better! 4 tiers...perfect! Piped icing dots....love it!

From Mrs. Tiramisu on Weddingbee

Ribbon! Yes!

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So what I wanted was some sort of ivory, swirly-scrolly, icing-dot-piped, 4-tier, beribboned beauty. I had a feeling it was going to be hard to describe to Megan (my cake vendor/genius). So, I whipped out my colored pencils, and I drew a picture.

See Megan? This is what I want!

So my drawing skills aren't wonderful...but sometimes drawing something out is the only way to get your ideas across! Hopefully the actual cake looks better than my little pencil sketch!

What do you think? Does it look good enough to eat?